Alberto Redaelli, PhD, Full Professor

Full Professor in the Deparment of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering (DEIB) at Politecnico di Milano, and head of the Bioengineering REsearch Area since 2020. He co-founded and coordinates the Biomechanics Research Group at DEIB. He is the authored of more than 240 full manuscripts published on international peer-reviewed scientific journals in the fields of biomechanics, microfluidics, and nano-biomechanics, with an h-index of 48 and more than 9000 citations according to Scopus. He has coordinated 7 European projects, 9 national projects funded by the Italian Government, and 6 projects funded by Cariplo Foundation. Recently, he has been coordinating a POS project on data analysis, a PNC project on advanced diagnostic tools, and a PNRR-funded project. Moreover, he is the co.founder of two spin-off companies stemmed from Politecnico di Milano: Artiness, which developes Mixed Reality applications for cardiac surgery, and BiomimX, which develops microfluidic platforms for cell culturing and drug screening.

Silvia Bozzi, PhD, Associate Professor

Silvia Bozzi has a Master degree in Environmental Engineering from the Politecnico di Milano (2002) and has obtained a Ph.D. degree in Hydraulics in 2008 on the numerical simulation of particulate flows in domains with moving boundaries. Since 2022 she is Assistant Professor at the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering of the Politecnico di Milano. She coordinates the activities of the Th-Lab (Platelet function and Thrombogenicity lab) dedicated to the analysis of the thrombogenic potential of blood contacting medical devices and to the development of point-of-care systems for the assessment of platelet function with specific emphasis on platelet activation. Her research interests also include shear-mediated platelet adhesion and thrombus formation, platelet-on-chip technologies and microfluidic vessel-on-a-chip platforms for studying vascular pathologies. She is author of about 50 publications, including 32 peer reviewed international papers.

Giuseppe Passoni, PhD, Associate Professor

Giuseppe Passoni (1961), Ph.D. Marine Hydr., Politecnico di Milano, 1992

Research Fellow in Hydraulics and Fluid Mechanics, Politecnico di Milano, 1993

Ass. Prof. of Ocean and Coastal Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, 2004

Fellow Inst. Applied Physics Nizhny Novgorod (Russia), since 1995.

Fellow Woods Hole Ocean Inst. – Woods Hole (USA), since 2001.

Main research areas: Bio-Fluid Mechanics, Fluid-Particle Interactions in Biological and Environmental Flows, Wave Energy Conversion, Wave-structure interaction.

Co-author of 40 journal papers spanning from fundamental to practical problems of environmental-industrial fluid mechanics mainly using mathematical modeling.

Tatiana Mencarini, MSc, PhD Candidate

Tatiana Mencarini was born in 1993. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering at Università Politecnica delle Marche in 2016, with a thesis focusing on the quantitative measurement of hand tremor in patients affected by Parkinson’s disease by means of non-contact devices. In 2019, she received her Master’s degree at Politecnico di Milano. Her master’s thesis aimed at the assessment of two microfluidic devices for the evaluation of platelet reactivity in patients under antiplatelet therapy, with the ultimate goal of tailoring patient-specific antiplatelet treatments. She carried out part of the master’s thesis at the University of Arizona in Tucson (College of Medicine and ACABI) for 4 months, under the supervision of Dr. Marvin J Slepian. Currently, she is a PhD candidate at Politecnico di Milano, where her research focuses on the study of hemodynamic stresses and blood and tissue damages.

Fabio Morelli, MSc, Research Fellow

Fabio Morelli was born in 1998. He obtained his master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano in May 2023. His master’s thesis focused on the design and development of a wearable ultrasound device for neuro-oncologic therapy and imaging. This project was conducted at the biomedical companies In.Tra. srl and LinkMed srl, where he conceived, designed, and realized the device, involving consultation with neurosurgeons and testing at the National Research Centre in Rome. He is currently a Biomechanical Researcher fellow affiliated with the European Institute of Oncology (IEO) and Politecnico di Milano. His research focuses on computational fluid dynamics in the cardiac district, specifically on Atrial Septal Defect, with the design of a microfluidic platform for the evaluation of platelet activation. He also participates in various projects where 3D printing is used to create patient-specific phantoms for surgical planning and training in the neuro and abdominal districts.

Francesca Vicinanza, MSc, PhD Candidate

Francesca Vicinanza was born in 1998 in Milano. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano in 2020, with a thesis focusing on the comparison of stent-grafts for the treatment of aortic aneurysms, specifically analyzing their effectiveness and compatibility with patient anatomy. In 2023, she received her Master’s degree at Politecnico di Milano with honors. Her master’s thesis, titled “Design and Development of a Flow Focusing Microfluidic Device for the Conformal Coating of Pancreatic Islets in a PEG-based Hydrogel,” aimed at developing an innovative method for encapsulating pancreatic islets for Type 1 Diabetes treatment. She conducted part of her master’s thesis at the University of Miami, under the supervision of Prof. Alice Tomei. Currently, she is a research fellow collaborating with the Thrombosis and Haemostasis Centre at Policlinico di Milano, where her research involves developing a predictive model for acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura and a microfluidic platform for evaluating platelet reactivity in patients with coagulation disorders.

Valeria Guadagno, MSc, PhD Candidate

Valeria Guadagno was born in 1998. She accomplished her Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering in May 2023 at Politecnico di Milano. Her master’s thesis was developed in collaboration with Centro Cardiologico Monzino and focused on the computational analysis of the shear stresses induced by a cardiac defect named Patent Foramen Ovale on platelets, which led to the development of a microfluidic device for the in vitro study of the effect of these mechanical solicitations on platelets. She is currently a PhD candidate in bioengineering at Politecnico di Milano, focusing her work on the development of an advanced vessel-on-chip for the study of microvascular diseases and drug screening.